New car build time?

I've had a new car on order for a few months and apparently they've started building it, should be in the UK for the end of the month

Got me thinking though, how long does it take a big car brand (VW in this case) to actually build a car leaving aside what ever tests are carried out post build. I honestly have no idea but I would assume fairly quickly. Anyone in the know?

I recall a number of years ago it took Toyota and VW about 37 hours to build a car. It then took VW about the same amount of time to QA the car and sort out all the issues, still to have a car less reliable than Toyota. Toyota had QA and the TQM, Lean etc principles sorted.

These figures are quite old ie several years and VW has no doubt moved on a lot more than Toyota in the intervening period. Bastid Germans (ie Checks) still managed to build me the wrong car just over a year ago, so they have so still have some basic sales order to manufacturing comms to be sorted.

oh I think you may be massively disappointed at the amount of testing your car doesn't get before you're handed the key!

This may be my first (brand) new car but I'm pretty realistic about the odds of having a load of problems, fingers crossed it'll not happen but best be prepared hey... Still doesn't dampen the excitement!

what would you think if your brand new car had 45 miles on it? or 75? or more?

This may be my first (brand) new car but I'm pretty realistic about the odds of having a load of problems, fingers crossed it'll not happen but best be prepared hey... Still doesn't dampen the excitement!

That's not what I meant. The quality (or lack thereof depending on the brand) is controlled by the process, not by testing and fault finding. Therefore you should still get a quality product at the end, which has been closely controlled throughout the supply chain.

On the other hand, the industry I work in builds highly complex kit in very low numbers (compared to the motor industry, and most other industries for that matter). So tests things to the hilt before letting the customer get their hands on it.

When I've bought new cars or when my parents got them when we were kids, they usually had 4 to 7 miles on the clock. This would be from them moving around the factory, dock, ferry, dock, distribution centre, dealership etc.